Llew O'Brien (Wide Bay, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The federal division of Wide Bay truly is a rich part of the world in terms of its culture and economy. In the eastern part of the federal division we have Noosa, a cosmopolitan, world-class tourist destination. As you go north, we have Gympie and Maryborough, rural and regional centres providing for the country with crops, grazing and manufacturing. As you go west out to the beautiful areas of the South Burnett, you have Murgon and Cherbourg, other areas that contribute to the $1 billion agricultural contribution to the local economy. On Tuesday 16 May I was lucky enough to attend a small business forum in Murgon put on by the Burnett Inland Economic Development Organisation, otherwise known as BIEDO. It was a really good evening, with over 50 participants. Those providing services to the local area, small businesses and business operators attended. The BIEDO organisation is led by its CEO, Kristy Frahm, who does a wonderful job with her team. Their main goal is to build resilience, sustainability and innovation, both socially and economically, in the regional areas that they service. Whilst I was at the small-business forum I spoke to Mark Smith, who owns Mark Smith's Menswear in Murgon. He gave me a number of good points on how to get more people into regional Australia. I spoke to Jason Kinsella and Susan Kinsella from Moffatdale Ridge winery, who spoke to me about their part of the local agricultural industry and how to take greater advantage of regional tourism, particularly from the domestic point of view. It was also great to see Keith Campbell, the local mayor, there, and Deb Frecklington, the member for Nanango, my state colleague.

Doing business in rural and regional Australia is tough. It is more exposed to drought and weather events, and, if you are a retailer in a small town and one of the major employers shuts down, you are more exposed in that regard, too. So it is important that the Australian government helps our small rural and regional businesses. The people at this forum really appreciated the fact that we have added $200 million to the Building Better Regions Fund in this year's budget. They appreciate the fact that we understand that in rural and regional Australia small business turnover should not be $2 million; it needs to be $10 million, where the margins are smaller but they still have a big turnover. Lowering the corporate tax rate to incentivise rural and regional business is another area that they appreciate, as well as the $20,000 instant asset write-off and the further 12 months that we have extended that for. Locally, this community of the South Burnett really does appreciate the $11.2 million the federal government is investing in upgrading the Wide Bay and Bruce Highway intersection, which is notorious both for its poor safety record and also for being a barrier to the local economy.

Finally, on another note, and from a cultural point of view, it was my great pleasure to take part in the Reconciliation Fun Run last weekend from Murgon to Cherbourg. It was a seven-kilometre fun run organised by the Ration Shed Museum from Cherbourg. There were 500 participants. It really was a great display of community, cooperation and reconciliation. There were some notable people involved in the fun run; there was Rob de Castella, and Chris Sarra attended, and Deputy Mayor Kathy Duff had a go, too. It truly is a wonderful experience to run with all of these people, and the smiles on their faces made me very, very proud and happy to be a part of it.

We need to keep up the momentum on reconciliation. This week is a very significant week, it being 50 years since the 1967 referendum, and I am proud to be part of a government that is closing the gap on the targets in relation to Indigenous affairs. (Time expired)